Day 20: Going home!
Wow, this vacation went by fast! We still have more things we want to do.. I guess we need to come back another time. Maybe 2021?
But enough about the future, let’s talk about what did we do today. We woke up early to an e-mail from Lufthansa that we needed to check our carry-on bags as much as possible. Since we did have an issue with some overweight this was perfect for us. We got ourselves an additional suitcase from Walmart. I went out to get while DaniĆ«lle and Emily got all our stuff ready.
At 10:00am we needed to close the door of the Airbnb behind us for good. In the end we need to rush a bit but we made it.
Now it was time for a relaxing coffee at the Starbucks. Here we also decided that we wanted to visit Epcot one more time. We had plenty of time since we only needed to be at the airport around 4:30pm.
At 11:30am we walked through the gates and we decided that today would all be about characters. First stop was the Imagination Pavilion for a meet with Joy from Inside Out. Spectacular meet as Joy was pretend playing that she had a gigantic chocolate ice-cream which everyone needed to hold while she was posing with Emily.
Next up was a meet & greet with Ralph and Vanellope vom Schweetz, the stars from Wreck-It Ralph.
China in world showcase was next on our list as here Mulan was meeting.
Followed by Snow White in Germany.
In France we got a double meet & greet. First with Belle in her village outfit and afterwards with Princess Aurora. (The Sleeping Beauty).
From France we walked back to Morocco where we found Jasmine in an air-conditioned room.
Now we all got a bit hungry as it was already close to 1:00pm. We opted for quick service in Japan at the Katsura Grill, the menu mainly consisted of different teriyaki options. Very delicious.
From Japan we walked to United Kingdom, here we got picture with Alice from Wonderland before we started to leave.
On our way back we also collaborated by painting on the giant paint by number canvas.
Back at the car it started to rain a bit. Here we changed into to our airplane outfits, jeans became shorts, shirts became different ones! And of to the airport. I could bring the car back empty so the challenge was to bring it back with the minimum amount of gas possible! With 41 miles of gas left and 23 miles still to drive I think we did a good job.
At the Airport we dropped off the car, walked to terminal and here was it busy as usual. Lufthansa was well prepared and we dropped of our luggage very quickly. The line through customs took us 30 minutes and at 5:00pm we were at our gate where we needed to wait for boarding until 7:05pm.
Boarding went smooth for us, Emily was dancing an for the attention of the crew which got us to board as first family with children. And that was a really cool perk today as we got overhead-bin-space enough on this full flight. Due to many people bringing way to much stuff as carry-on the departure was delayed by almost an hour.
The flight itself was very good, only a bit bumpy in the beginning what delayed the service.
Emily started of with 2 movies: Puppy Dog Palls 2 (she remembered from 3 weeks ago that she didn’t finish it), Up! and after dinner Toy Story 4. A couple minutes into that movie her light went out and she fell a sleep. She continues sleeping until we kind of woke her up 30 minutes before the landing. I did the same, I fell sleep during the movie Shazam! DaniĆ«lle was less lucky, the guy behind her was bumping against her seat keeping her awake the whole flight.
After we got of the plane we waited a little bit for the stroller, then went through customs without wait and as we finally arrived at the luggage claim our suitcases came almost immediately.
We went right towards our car which we parked at the airport. And 1:45 hours we arrived home.
And now it’s struggling to stay awake and get rid of the jet-lag.
Thanks for following us throughout our vacation, we hope you enjoyed it.
Day 19: Be our guest!
Our last full day near the magic has started, we took it slowly this morning as we didn’t had plans until later in the day.
Close to 10:00am we left towards the Mall at Millenia. We paid one more visit to the Lily Pulitzer store as we got early access to the new collection. And both of my girls got lucky, Danielle got a nice new blouse and Emily got a beautiful spring dress.
We also decided that we wanted to look for better sunglasses for Emily. Her favourite pair is getting old and the Sofia the First emblem has already fallen off. Also she is very careful with them for a 4-year old that is. We looked at the Sunglass Hut and they had the same pair as Danielle for kids. Then I remembered that they have a Disney x Ray-Ban version, but unfortunately only available at the Disney Springs store!
Next stop: Disney Springs! We only visited the Sunglass Icon, and yes they had 3 versions. Emily went for the latest Limited Edition Version.
Now we went back to the Airbnb, here Emily got to rest a bit. Danielle packed some more stuff and eventually I closed my eyes for about 30 minutes.
Finally time to get in the car the Magic again! More exactly the Ticket & Transportation Center where we parked nearby the entrance at Hook 312.
We took the Monorail to the Magic Kingdom, entering the park was a challenge as the afternoon parade just ended and a lot of people left the park already.
Our first stop was the Fairy Godmother, but we got in line to early as she switches out with Cinderella’s Stepsisters. Danielle and Emily went for that meet & greet while I waited a couple spots behind them in the same line for the Fairy Godmother. Amazing experience, Emily chatted with her and the Fairy Godmother gave her an additional card with her autograph because she behaved so well.
After this meeting we went to the castle of the Beauty and the Beast. Inside there is a restaurant called “Be our Guest” at which we finally got a reservation.
We got seated in the Rose Gallery, the best among the three rooms we think. The west wing would have been nice but was way to dark, and in the ballroom it was to crowded as it’s much larger and have many people passing through.
Emily got the Fruit & Cheese platter as appetizer. Mac & Cheese with Green Beans and Rice as Entree and for dessert the Grey Stuff combined with a paintable white chocolate Chip and a cake-pop.
Danielle got the Maine Lobster Bisque, Center-cut Filet Mignon and the Dessert Trio consisting of a lemon-jam macaron, a white- chocolate “Chip” cup filled with Grey Stuff and crisp pearls and a dark chocolate truffle. I got almost the same, the difference was the appetizer which was a Piment d’Espelette spiced Tuna and I added a Saison Dupont, Farmhouse Ale from Belgium. Everything was delicious, the experience was good, maybe a bit overpriced.
And I should not forget that after dinner we got to meet with the Master of the House, the abesst himself.
Being done with dinner we went to use our first Fastpass+ of the day at Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin.
Our second Fastpass+ we used at The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh! We left the park after taking a last look at the castle and picture with one of the Photopass+ Photographers. At 7:50pm we arrived at our car and just after 8:00pm we arrived at the Airbnb.
Here we packed the last stuff in our suitcases before we call it day. Tomorrow we fly home again…